Shipping containers



Dec. 20, 1955 s. H. FlLLlON SHIPPING CONTAINERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 23, 1953 W s m m R mm m h 1 00 M RN uh Q \N @N aw w rt: :L mtnm n w mw fl wwh Y 3 fi a 4 :Ab V fi mmmm w g x m M w \1 cm 6\\ %w B m Q Q a Q N r 5i i 7 i lki A\ Q 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan v 00 l/l IIIIIJYI v Hu l-F." K W I I ATTORNEYS United States Patent SHIPPING CONTAINERS Stanley H. Fillion, Scarsdale, N, Y-,, assignor to Waugh Equipment Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Maine Application January 23, 1953, Serial No. 332,792 1 Claim. ;,(C.l. 206-46) This invention relates to shipping containers for heavy objects having delicate working parts, which must be protected during the shipment of the objects against vibration and shock capable of causing breakage or misalignment of the parts. More particularly, the invention is concerned with a novel shipping container for the stated purpose, which provides the desired protection for a heavy object shipped therein and is of suchconstruction that the object may be easily mounted in position in the container and removed therefrom. While the new container may be used in the shipping of objects of various kinds, the full advantages of the invention are realized in a form of the container suitable for shipping guided missiles and such a container will be illustrated and described for purposes of explanation.

Guided missiles are of great weight and usually of such length that, when a missile is shipped by rail, it must be placed in the car with its long axis extending in the direction of train movement. In the shipment of freight by rail, the greatest shocks, to which the car ladings are subjected, are those applied lengthwise of the cars during switching operations and resulting from the impact of a moving car against a stationary one. Accordingly, a shipping container for a guided missile must be constructed to protect the missile against shocks applied vertically, laterally, and longitudinally and to provide especially good protection' against longitudinal forces.

The shipping container of the invention includes a housing of a shape and size varying with the object, with which the container is to be used, and fitting the object as closely as is permissible. A form of the container for a guided missile is of elongated shape and it is preferably made of upper and lower longitudinalsections of sheet metal of appropriate gauge. The object is carried within the container on a mounting, which includes slides movable lengthwise of the housing on a pair of rails supported resiliently on the lower section of the housing and extending parallel to the longitudinal axis of the housing. The longitudinal movements of the assembly made up of the object and its mounting are resisted by spring units within the rails acting on at least one slide on each rail, and the rails have a limited lengthwise travel against the action of cushioning means. Also, each rail may move outwardly from the axis of the housing in a horizontal plane against the resistance of resilient elements.

A part of the mounting for the object may be attached thereto outside the housing and such part of the mounting may include two .or more rings or cradle elements, which are attached to the object to encircle it wholly or in part. When .the .rings or elements have been secured to the .object, the object is lowered into the bottom sectionof the housing and the rings .or elements are secured to the slides. The object is thus securely held in position and, when the upper section of the housing has been put in place, the housing -is ready for shipment.

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For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be made to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a plan view of the lower section of the container with a guided missile mounted therein;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on the line 2-2 of Figs. 1 and 3;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line 33 of Fig.

Fig. 4 is a portion of Fig. 3 on an enlarged scale;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view on the line 66 of Figs. 1 and 8;

Fig. 7 is a sectional view on the line 7-7 of Figs. 2.

and 8;

Fig. 8 is a sectional and Fig. 9 is a view, partly in plan and partly in section, 9f a modified rail construction.

The container illustrated in the drawings is for a guided missile 10, and comprises a housing 11 made of sheet metal and divided longitudinally into upper and lower sections. The sections may have external transverse stiffening ribs 11a and the ribs on the lower section may be provided with skids 11b.

In order that the missile may be properly supported on the container, a circular series of webs 1-2 are removably attached to the outer surface of the missile, as by being bolted thereto, and the webs 12 are removably attached in any convenient way to rings 1.3, Which encircle the missile. The number and spacing of the rings 13 are dependent on the size and weight of the missile supported, and only two are shown. For some objects, the rings may be replaced by half-rings or elements of cradle form.

A pair of tubular rails 15 are mounted on the lower section of the housing 10 to extend parallel to the housing axis and in symmetrical arrangement relative thereto, and .each rail 15 is encircled by a number of slides 16, which are movable longitudinally on the rails. There are as many slides 16 on each rail as there are rings 13, and each ring 13 is attached to corresponding slides 16 on the opposite rails. A bracket 17 is rigidly attached view on the line 8-8 of Fig. 6;

' to each slide and each bracket has spaced vertical flanges between which the ring is received and secured in place by a bolt 18. 2

Longitudinal movement of the assembly of the slides and missile is resisted by cushioning means 20 within the rails acting on the slides connected to one or more rings. In the construction shown, each rail contains one cushioning means and such means operate through the slides attached to the forward ring. Each cushioning means comprises a coil spring 21, and followers 22 and 23, which engage the ends of the spring. The followers 22 2 3 bear against stops 24, 25, respectively,-which are attached rigidly to the inner faces of the rail 15. A link 26 extends through the spring and openings in the followers and one end of the link is threaded and carries a nut 27 engaging the outer face of the follower 23. The other end 28 of the link is enlarged to prevent its passing through follower .22 and has an opening through the enlargement. Aligned longitudinal slots 15a and 15b are cut in the top and bottom of the rail 15, and corresponding slots 24a and 24b are cut in stop 24. The adjacent slide 16 has diametrical openings aligned with the slots and a key 29 passing through the openings and slots connects the link to the slide and is retained in Place by a pin 30. As the slide 16 moves lengthwise on the rail, the key 29 is free to move within the slots, and link 26 moves with the slide. This movement of the slide is resisted by the spring acting on the link, as follows. If the container and the missile are subjected to a fierce rear ring 13 and its slides 16 are free to move on rails 15, but the movement of the forward ring and the slides connected thereto causes a pull on links 26 within the cushioning means in the two rails. Forward movement of the links causes the rear followers 23 of the cushioning means to compress springs 21 against the front followers 22 held in place by stops 24 and the forward movement of the missile is thereby cushioned. If the container and missile are subjected to a force tending to move the missile rearwardly, the rearward movement of the forward ring 13 causes links 26 to be moved to the rear and the enlarged ends 28 on the links act to move front followers 22 to the rear and compress springs 21 against the rear followers 23 held in placeby stops 25.

In the construction shown in Figs. 1 through 8, the rails are resiliently supported from beneath at spaced points by units generally designated 33. Each unit (Figs. 6, 7, and 8) includes a number of rubber springs, each made up of a center plate 34 and annular rubber pads 35 on opposite sides of the plate, with corresponding pads connected by plugs of rubber extending through openings openings 40a for the nuts 38 on tie bolts 37. Each 7 bracket also has a central opening for the head of a bolt 43, which lies within an opening in the mounting plate 39 and bears against the plate 36 at the end of the cushioning unit. The bolt 43 extends through the springs and divider plates of the unit and through an opening in a U-shaped bracket 45 secured to the under surface of rail 15. The bolt has a nut 44 engaging the upper surface of bracket 44 and the bracket has openings receiving the heads of tie bolts 37.

With the construction described, an assembly consisting of a group of rubber springs, the plates 36 between adjacent springs and at the ends of the group, and the mounting plate 39 at one end of the group is held together by tie bolts 37 and can be handled as a unit. When the unit is installed as above described, a force tending to lift the missile within the container causes the unit to be compressed between the lower end plate 36 and the upper end plate 36, which engages the heads of bolts 37 secured to the mounting plate 39 and to bracket 40 secured to the container. to move the missile downwardly, the cushioning unit is compressed between the upper end plate 36, which is forced downwardly by bracket 45, and the lower end plate 36, which is supported by the mounting plate 39 secured to the top of bracket 40. By taking up bolts 37, the rubber springs can be placed under a desired initial compression, so that the unit will not be further compressed under load, until the load exceeds the initial precompression.

Each rail 15 is cushioned against movement outwardly from the housing axis by shear block units 50, each of which comprises a metal tube 51 within a rubber sleeve 52, which lies within a metal cylinder 53. The rubber sleeve is bonded to the tube and the cylinder, and the cylinder is slidable within a metal sleeve 54 secured in aligned horizontal openings in the rail 15. The sleeve 54 has an internal flange 54a at its inner end forming a When the applied force tends cushion such movement. As the rail 15 adjacent the surface approaches the surface, the sleeves 54 attached to the rail move their cylinders 53 outwardly. As the tubes 51 of the active units are held against movement by the container wall, the outward movement of cylinders 53 subjects the rubber sleeves 52 to shearing stresses and the movement of the missile is thereby cushioned.

Endwise movement of each rail 15 is cushioned as follows. Each rail is provided at each end with a cap 56, to which is bonded a rubber pad 58 also bonded to an outer wear plate 57 lying in contact with the surface of a stop bracket 59 secured to the inner surface of the lower section of the container. The cushioning means at the ends of the rail permit it to move verically and horizontally and the cushioning units 33 likewise permit endwise and horizontal movements of the rail supported thereby.

In the modified construction shown in Fig. 9, the rings 13 attached to the missile are connected to slides 16 movable along rails 15, which contain cushioning means 20 previously described and are supported by sheer blocks 60 at their ends. Each shear block comprises a rubber pad 61 lying between and bonded to metal mounting plates 62, 63. Plate 62 is secured by bolts 64 and nuts 65 to a cap 66 fitting over the end of the rail and secured thereto by screws 67. Plate 63 is secured to a bracket 68 similar to brackets 59 and attached to the inner wall of the lower section of the container by bolts 69 having nuts 70. Since the shear blocks 60 may provide the sole support for the rails attached thereto, the use of blocks 60 makes unnecessary the cushioning units 33 and 50. The Fig. 9 construction is applicable to containers for missiles lighter than those for which the construction shown in Figs. 1 to 8, inclusive, is adapted.

In the container constructions illustrated, the objects (missiles) are attached to a pair of rings, which are secured to slides on the rails. The movements of the slides connected to the forward ring are resisted by the cushioning means within the rails, and this arrangement is used because the construction of the missiles is such that it is desirable that the forces cushioning the movements of the missiles be transmitted thereto in a zone encircled by the forward ring. It will be understood that, in some cases, the object may be attached to more than two rings and more than one ring may be acted on by cushioning means within the rails.

I claim:

A shipping container, which comprises a housing, rail supports including resilient means, spaced lengthwise of the housing at opposite sides thereof, rails mounted on said supports, slides spaced longitudinally on the rails, means on the slides for attachment to an object, a coil spring within each rail, followers engaging the ends of the spring, a link within the rail preventing separation of the followers, stops on the rail engaging the followers, and means connecting at least one slide on each rail with the link within the rail, the link operating, when moved in either direction, to compress the spring within its rail.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

